TRUMP CARD

Donald Trump Finally Got Slammed for Having No Real Plans

It finally happened: Republican front-runner Donald Trump got called out for having no specific plan for anything.

Up until Thursday’s G.O.P. debate on CNN and Telemundo, the billionaire developer had mostly gotten away with wrapping buzzwords in bravado and calling it a presidential platform—a strategy, for lack of a better word, that has won him three out of the four primary contests so far. Where most candidates have specific, detailed plans for how they will reform health care, grow the economy, and take out ISIS, Trump has a few phrases he cycles through and then moves on to talking about winning, beating China, and making America great again. His lack of substance may seem baffling to some and terrifying to others, but his supporters don’t seem to mind. He has gotten this far without spelling out any concrete steps. Why start now?

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz gave him a reason Thursday night. Both candidates came into the debate with the weight of their electoral fate on their shoulders after losing to Trump by double digits in Nevada, South Carolina, and New Hampshire; both need to close that gap with just days remaining until 12 more primary states vote on Super Tuesday. And both seemed to think banging on Trump’s hollow drum would get them there.

Rubio got his moment when the debate turned to health care, as Trump promised to lower premiums while still requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. After Trump rambled through an explanation of how eliminating the barriers preventing insurance companies from competing across state lines would increase competition and bring down costs, Rubio, like most people truly listening, found it difficult to tease out just what he was proposing.

“This is an important thing. What is your plan?” he said. “I understand the lines around the state, whatever that means. This is not a game where you draw maps.” Rubio continued to repeat, “What is your plan?” He did so four times, and every time, Trump responded with a similar explanation about bringing in competition and getting rid of “the lines.”

“Now he’s repeating himself,” Rubio laughed. Trump threw it right back his way, saying he watched Rubio repeat himself five times four weeks ago. “I saw you repeat yourself five times four seconds ago,” Rubio said. “He says five things: Everyone’s dumb, he’s going to make America great again, win, win, win, he’s winning in the polls, and the lines around the states. Every night, same thing.” When CNN’s Dana Bash followed up, asking if there was anything he would like to add about his plan, Trump told her no. “What’s to add?”

Cruz, hearing how well this exchange played with the debate audience, attacked Trump for his lack of specifics a few minutes later, cross-examining him on whether or not he has said the government should pay for everyone’s health care.

“Donald, true or false: You’ve said the government should pay for everyone’s health care?“ Cruz questioned. “Explain your plan, please.” Trump said his plan was simple, and involved not allowing people to die on the sidewalks or in the streets if he is president. “Yes or no? Just answer the question,” Cruz interrupted. Trump repeated that he would not let people die in the streets. “Who pays for it?” Cruz pressed. “It’s a yes or a no.” Trump ended the back-and-forth by telling him to call it what he wanted.

It was clear from both exchanges that Trump has few ideas, and lacks the intellectual curiosity to care. It is equally clear, however, that his supporters don’t care either. The people voting for him are not looking for elucidated policy positions, but the appearance of strength. The question is whether Rubio and Cruz showed enough backbone to win over anyone on Team Trump before Tuesday.

In Iowa last January, Trump regales voters with a humanizing personal anecdote about how he once bit his right index finger after mistaking it for a half-eaten French fry.

Photo: By Jerry Mennenga/ZUMA Press/Corbis.

A wax figure of “Duke” Wayne looks on in disgust as Trump strains to reach his fingers all the way around daughter Aissa Wayne’s frankly rather petite shoulder. (Fun fact: you could load the barrel of Wayne’s pistol with 14 of Trump’s pinkies.)

Photo: By Tannen Maury/EPA/Corbis.

As Trump talks straight through a lunch-hour town hall in February, hungry New Hampshire voters appear mesmerized by the five chicken-tender-like appendages radiating from his sausage-patty-size palm.

Photo: From The Washington Post/Getty Images.

At this 2005 gala, Trump, thinking quickly, uses both hands to keep wife Melania from getting a good look at the size of a single Puff Daddy hand.

Photo: By Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images.

Trump’s delicate right hand is nearly crushed by his nine-year-old daughter Ivanka’s huge, burly mitt at a 1991 event.

In Iowa last January, Trump regales voters with a humanizing personal anecdote about how he once bit his right index finger after mistaking it for a half-eaten French fry.

By Jerry Mennenga/ZUMA Press/Corbis.

A wax figure of “Duke” Wayne looks on in disgust as Trump strains to reach his fingers all the way around daughter Aissa Wayne’s frankly rather petite shoulder. (Fun fact: you could load the barrel of Wayne’s pistol with 14 of Trump’s pinkies.)

By Tannen Maury/EPA/Corbis.

As Trump talks straight through a lunch-hour town hall in February, hungry New Hampshire voters appear mesmerized by the five chicken-tender-like appendages radiating from his sausage-patty-size palm.

From The Washington Post/Getty Images.

Greeting voters in Iowa City, Trump surreptitiously compares his hand to a baby’s, a smile of satisfaction and relief slowly spreading across his face.

From Bloomberg/Getty Images.

At the 1990 grand opening of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, wee hands try to summon a genie from a giant lamp. “It’s the motion,” Trump gamely jokes.

An interesting optical illusion: Trump’s left hand is actually in the foreground of the picture!

By Chris Cassidy/Getty Images.

More ugly politics in South Carolina: Trump is forced to refute rumors, traced back to the Cruz campaign, that his fingers aren’t long enough for Christian prayer.

By Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament/Getty Images.

Trump pretends to enjoy a pork chop on a stick at the 2015 Iowa State Fair, probably the one place on Earth where people won’t mistake a pork chop on a stick for Trump’s third hand.

By Win McNamee/Getty Images.

In costume with actress Megan Mullally at the 2005 Emmys, Trump wows an audience of hardened entertainment professionals by wrapping his fingers nearly all the way around a pitchfork.

By Mathew Imaging/FilmMagic/Getty Images.

Some pundits have attributed candidate Trump’s hawkishness to the fact that, even though his fingers have as many joints as a normal man’s, they remain at least an inch short of being able to form a proper peace sign.

From The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.

Nothing much to say about the fingers in this picture; just curious why Trump’s “anus mouth” face hasn’t also become a thing.

From CNBC/Getty Images.

To this day, clubhouse attendants maintain that Trump had to be outfitted with a Babe Ruth Jr. Youth League glove for this 1991 appearance at Yankee Stadium.

From the Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.

At this 2005 gala, Trump, thinking quickly, uses both hands to keep wife Melania from getting a good look at the size of a single Puff Daddy hand.

By Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images.

Trump’s delicate right hand is nearly crushed by his nine-year-old daughter Ivanka’s huge, burly mitt at a 1991 event.